Listen to the Silence

So, apparently this is now a thing.   https://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Tired-Stupid-Democrats-Trump/dp/B09KX3P9R3/ https://www.amazon.com/PTSD-Pretty-Stupid-Democrats-T-Shirt/dp/B08PFZQ84J/ https://www.amazon.com/Funny-Pretty-Tired-Stupid-Democrats/dp/B0BQ1KWZGP/ https://www.amazon.com/PRETTY-TIRED-STUPID-DEMOCRATS-TRUMP/dp/B097SLJP75/ https://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Tired-Stupid-Democrats-Shirt/dp/B09D8T93DV/ That's just the surface....that's just the first half of the first page of Amazon's list of the search of....  *sigh*  ... ... Guys, I just....I can't.     I...I really just....I got nothing here.   I'm the guy who always has some kind of quip, or clever turn to whip things up but this...  June is fucking PTSD awareness month, and here it is a few days away, and a lot of these are just showing up now to take advantage of people searching for ACTUAL awareness t-shirts.... I just.... ....*sigh* Look, I don't talk about this much.   In fact, I don't know if I&

Whatever happened to Innocent until Proven Guilty? (Some of my rants are a bit like going to war – you won’t all be here at the end.  This is one of those.) In our lifestyle, I see a frightening trend.   I see it coming out of a good place, and (mostly) good hearts – but all I can think of is the adage about the road paved with good intentions. I’m sure Joe McCarthy had good intentions too. We live in a society (in the US) where we’re presumed innocent, until proven guilty. Yes, that does mean that sometimes the guilty go free, or unpunished.   The system isn’t perfect.  And what of the victims?   And future victims?  Why do we let these criminals go free when we could keep them all locked up?   Because it’s better a dozen bad men go free than one innocent man languishing in prison.   That’s the whole point of the Innocence Project and Amnesty International.   Aren’t those wrongly accused also victims?   If you’ve ever been in a prison, or seen the damage from

Please. FUCKING PLEASE. If you need to find a sliding scale therapist or psychiatrist, or an open clinic, or a county health office, or a welfare diagnostician - I'll help you.   I will PERSONALLY help you - it's something I do every single weekend as part of my volunteer work. (That's on top of being a cop, on top of building toys for Creative Kink, and on top of being a full time Dad, btw.  So yes, I really commit to the work, and yes, I really will help you.) But this self diagnosis shit?  This shit has got to go.   There's a reason why so many people go through years and years and YEARS of graduate education to be able to make a diagnosis of psychological or psychiatric treatment needs.  I realize self diagnosis is the latest fad.  I realize having some 'mental illness' makes you seem trendy, and I realize all your celebrity favorites are "coming out as having...".  I get that it makes you feel better to have a label to hang on yourself